


Properly Acquainted

by strangestorys



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkward Flirting, Crack, Dry Humping, Fluff, Gift Fic, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, M/M, matchmaker abigail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 16:53:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9558161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strangestorys/pseuds/strangestorys
Summary: College student Will is shopping for Halloween costumes with his niece when they run into a handsome stranger who knows way too much about 1) knives and 2) making Will blush. Cue shameless flirting and dry humping next to the latex monster masks ¯\_(ツ)_/¯





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [captainwingdings (Greggles_Lestrade)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greggles_Lestrade/gifts).



> This is [captainwingdings](http://captainwingdings.tumblr.com/)' prize for winning second place in my recent [fic giveaway](http://strangestorys.tumblr.com/post/155274579958/fic-giveaway-winners)! They requested a fic based on a dream they had:
>
>> Young Will encounters Med student Hannibal at a halloween store. I had a dream last night where Will (age 20 in this) was visiting family (or his cousins, just pretend he has them) during Halloween time, and he goes with his little cousins (like age 17 or so, so not that little) to a massive Halloween store. Cue slightly older (Med student?) Hannibal. Because what better time to kill some pigs than when everyone is setting out gory decorations? So basically Hannibal takes a liking to Will and kinda follows him around the shop because Will knows all these bloody facts and keeps telling his cousins. Hannibal is automatically smitten, of course, and goes out of his way to talk to Will and press his body up against his in the tiny aisles.
> 
> I took some liberties with plot, but hopefully the spirit of the dream is still there! 

“I want that big axe! I bet you could cut someone’s hand off with an axe like that!”

Will found himself at the local party outlet, babysitting his niece Abigail for the afternoon. Halloween was coming up, and Uncle Will, a criminal justice student at the local community college, was the ideal choice to help pick out the most gruesome costume.

“Well, um. The axe would be a particularly bad choice for any kind of close-range combat.”

“Close… what?”

“Look, you want to be a scary killer, right?”

“Well yeah. Duh.”

“So, you need an effective weapon. The axe isn’t going to do you much good in a fight. You’re really only going to want it for hacking at things from about arm’s length.”

They were currently in an aisle full of plastic fake weapons, the kind you could carry around spattered with fake blood and spook out all the little kids in the neighborhood – every ten-year-old’s dream.

“Yeah but it’s so BIG! I want that one.”

“How about you try the Bowie knife, that’ll be the most effective.”

“But a knife isn’t as scary as an axe.”

“But it’s… look, if it were up to me, I’d rather fight someone who had an axe than a Bowie knife. You can see an axe coming and get out of the way pretty quickly. A knife sneaks up on you. And look at the curve on the end – that’s gonna rip out _all_ your guts.”

“Yeah, but the axe is like… _so big_. I want the axe.” Her well-honed pout gave her the air of a mistreated Bassett Hound, a face that she knew from years of experience was Uncle Will’s kryptonite.

“… fine. We’ll get the axe. But you have to let me mix your fake blood for you, the stuff they sell at these stores doesn’t even congeal right.”

“Uncle Will, you’re so weird.”

“Do you want this costume to be accurate or not?”

“I want to be scary.”

“Accurate is scarier than anything you could come up with, I promise you.”

“Pardon me for overhearing, but I’d have to recommend the butcher knife over the Bowie, if we’re talking close combat. Specifically the Japanese _yanagi ba_ , traditionally used for sashimi.”

“Excuse me?” Will noticed for the first time the man standing to their left in the aisle, perusing a set of generic teen-murder-movie hockey masks. The tall, _gorgeous_ , very well dressed, mysteriously-accented man to their left. Will realized he was gawking and snapped his mouth shut, hoping the man hadn’t noticed.

Too late. The man was looking back at him with interest, the hint of a smile playing on his face.

“Well, with a knife suited for thinly slicing, it stands to reason that you could inflict major blood loss with little effort, if you properly targeted an artery. Which gives an opportunity to cover yourself in more of that fake blood, if that’s the effect you’re going for.”

“I like that idea, Uncle Will. Let’s do more blood!”

Who the fuck _was_ this guy, with his way-too-tailored pants and his precisely combed hair? He couldn’t be much older than Will, maybe mid-twenties… which was _entirely_ too young for anyone to be wearing that kind of sweater vest.

“More b… yeah, ok, we can go with that. The blood’s the best part anyway.”

“I’d have to agree,” the other man said with a short laugh, which made his eyes crinkle up in a way that was almost endearing. _Endearing?_ What was this, a high school crush? Will shook his head to clear it. He was _not_ getting butterflies just talking to some weirdo who knew too much about knives. That was ridiculous.

“You, uh, doing some last minute shopping?” Will gestured awkwardly at the hockey mask in the other man’s hand.

“I have to admit the holiday snuck up on me this year.” He sounded good-natured, casual. Flirty, even. Will felt the blood rising into his cheeks, unable to stop himself from blushing.

“Costume party?” He feigned casualness. He hadn’t been flirted with since… well, there was that drunk girl at the frat party last year, but that didn’t really count. Not in the way tall-elegant-and-vaguely-foreign over here did.

“Something like that.” Now he really _was_ smiling, his eyes boring into Will in a way that said he either wanted to murder him or bend him over the nearest display of fake vampire teeth.

“Uncle Will, let’s go, I wanna show Brian my fake knife.” Abigail interrupted Will’s train of thought, and he looked back at her, nodding slowly as the clouds cleared from his brain.

“You want… right, ok. I really _should_ be getting you home, I told your parents I’d have you back for dinner.”

“It wouldn’t do to miss dinner.” The stranger was still standing there, bemused look on his face.

“No, her parents would really kill me if I had her back late. And not with one of these fake knives, either.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Will, and you… ?” He looked over at Abigail, taking her hand politely.

“Abigail.” She giggled, obviously as charmed as Will.

“Abigail. Until next time, and _bon chance_ with the costume!”

“You too, uh, what was your name again?”

This time the man reached out to shake Will’s hand. “I never said. It’s Hannibal.”

Will shook Hannibal’s hand in a daze, noting his strong, calloused fingers that were at odds with his polished appearance.

Will nodded and let go slowly before breaking eye contact. Abigail was already halfway to the checkout line, and Will rolled his eyes emphatically, hearing Hannibal’s small snort of laughter behind him as he jogged to catch up.

A couple of days before Halloween, the line was about a dozen people long, all of them loaded down with costume supplies. They’d be waiting here a while. Which meant… oh no…

“You liked that guy, Uncle Will.”

…it meant Abigail would find an opening to tease Will about his love life.

“I… I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“He was nice. And handsome.”

“Lots of people are nice and handsome.”

Abigail gave him a look like a cat who’s just been served generic-brand dry kibble when they know you have salmon in the fridge. It was a look he was frequently on the receiving end of, one that meant she was entirely done with his bullshit.

“Lots of people aren’t nice and handsome _and_ flirting with you.”

“Hey now. I get flirted with plenty!” She gave him the look again. He prickled.

“I’m just messing with you, Uncle Will. Besides, I’d be careful of anyone wearing a sweater vest like that in public.”

Will laughed.

Abigail busied herself with inspecting the candy display next to their spot in line, only to turn to him after a few minutes and gasp, “We forgot to get the mask!”

“What? I thought you were just going as a serial killer. You don’t need a mask for that.”

“I’m not going as a serial killer, I’m going as a _mutant_ serial killer. Haven’t you ever seen _The Hills Have Eyes_?”

“Who the fuck is letting you watch _The Hills Have Eyes_?”

“My dad’s Netflix password.”

“Fair enough. How about this, I’ll hold our spot in line, and you go get the mask.”

“Yeah, but you know way more about this stuff. You go pick out the mask and I’ll hold the spot in line.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to –”

“– Just. Go. Pick. Out. The. Mask.” With that, she gave him a big smile and turned around to face the back of the person in front of her in the queue.

“Okay, okay. You better still be here when I get back.”

Will jogged back down the aisles and turned at the one reading “MASKS, MAKEUP, TEETH.” He nearly tripped over his own shoes when he saw Hannibal standing there, holding two bottles of fake blood in his hands and comparing the labels.

“Oh, hi!”

_Oh, hi!? That’s what you came up with? This is exactly why you never get dates._

“Hello, Will. What a nice surprise. Change your mind about the blood after all?”

“Turns out we need a mask too, just a knife isn’t spooky enough apparently.”

“Ah, yes. Anonymity is key in these situations.”

“Hah. Well, I’ll let you get back to your… your bottles of blood.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I don’t have to… what?”

“You don’t have to leave me to my accoutrements. That is, if you don’t want to.”

“I… I mean… that is…”

At that, Hannibal put down the bottles and stepped closer to Will. Will had the faint realization that they were completely alone on this end of the store, and then Hannibal was suddenly pressing him into a display of stage makeup and kissing him, _hard_.

Will stood there like a limp fish for a few seconds, caught completely off guard, before he grabbed Hannibal by the face and returned the kiss savagely. The feel of his body pressed against Will’s was _overwhelmingly_ good, hard and soft in all the right places, dense and solid. He smelled clean and musky, like lemon hand soap and cedarwood. And what he was doing with his tongue was _certainly_ illegal in some rural counties.

Will broke the kiss reluctantly, panting. “Christ.”

“Indeed.” Hannibal was panting just as hard, and Will realized a second later their breathing wasn’t the _only_ thing that was hard. Hannibal shifted his thigh in between Will’s legs, and Will inadvertently bucked, causing him to rub against Hannibal’s groin.

“We should…”

“Yes, we really should.” Hannibal punctuated this with another hard kiss, and Will had the thought that he’d known this man for less than ten minutes, and he already knew how every single one of his teeth tasted. Interesting.

Will pulled back with a reluctant wince. “I hate to do this, but I have to go. This is… unexpected and honestly great, but I have to go.”

“Your niece. Of course.”

“Yeah.” Hannibal’s thigh was still pressed against him in the empty aisle. Will never wanted to leave. They’d live here together, in the Halloween store, humping in abandoned aisles for the rest of their days.

“May I request your phone number? I’d enjoy becoming properly acquainted over dinner, maybe this weekend?”

“I’d say we’re fairly properly acquainted now,” Will said, bucking up against Hannibal’s groin again, delighting in the small groan the motion produced. “But yes, I’d like that.”

Hannibal nodded, looking extraordinarily pleased with himself. They parted reluctantly and exchanged numbers, stealing small glances at the other and laughing with a nervous energy as they did. Once he was calm again and his breath had slowed, Will turned to go, only to hear Hannibal call after him, “Will, the mask.”

“Shit! Thank you!” He looked at the rows of latex on the wall and grabbed the nearest one without really seeing any of them, jogging now to get back to Abigail.

When he got there, she took it with barely a glance, looking over his disheveled state.

“Have fun?”

“I… what?”

“Nothing. This is a good one, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. Let’s pay and go home, huh?”

“Sure thing. Oh, and Uncle Will?”

“Hmm?”

“You may want to redo your top button before we get back home.”


End file.
